In an ever-changing world, it is no longer enough for companies to adapt their businesses and products to what their customers want. This is because most of the time customers do not know what they want until they get it and are now flabbergasted that they ever lived without said product. Companies need to think into the future and predict what customers will want, how the industry will change in the future, and start creating products now to fit with these future needs and ever-changing industry. It is definitely not an easy task.

These scenarios are important for almost all industries and particularly so for the smart home industry — an industry that consumers are slowly coming around to and one that is set to expand greatly in the next few years. This industry is completely new to consumers. They did not know they wanted to control their door locks with their smartphone until they could, and now it has become the perfect addition to their home security.

The following market snapshot looks at how one company, Vivint, Inc., is expanding rapidly in the smart home industry and is looking at ways to stay one step ahead of customers who are forever changing their minds.

The popularity of the smart home increases

Smart home adoption is definitely on the rise in the U.S., with research from Parks Associates showing that nearly 40 percent of households are planning to buy a smart home product during the next 12 months.

“The majority of smart products are integrated into professionally installed security systems,” said Tom Kerber, research director at Parks Associates. “Our data shows continuing interest in connected devices. Some devices, such as a smart thermostat or networked security cameras, have strong leads over other devices.”

From a sports arena to keeping your kids and pets secure

With the popularity of smart home devices increasing, so too is the competition among companies in this industry. Vivint is one of the leaders in smart home technology, and the company recently passed the 1 million customer mark. Since launching its Vivint Sky smart home platform in spring 2014, it has seen a 60-percent increase in its smart home customers.

A scary statistic is that more than 40 percent of children stay home alone, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This is an unavoidable situation for many parents, but Vivint provides the necessary home monitoring systems to ensure parents know their children are safe. Whether it is keeping an eye on a child using live HD cameras or a variety of sensors to ensure it alerts users to an open window, a fire or high carbon monoxide levels, Vivint offers devices to help parents keep their children safe. If a device user is expecting the arrival of the babysitter while they are away, they can easily give them a limited pass code to gain access through the Vivint smart lock.

In a report by NextMarket Insights, sponsored by Vivint, it shows that pet owners in the U.S. spend over $60 billion a year on their furry friends, a segment that Vivint is capturing with its home monitoring systems. Just like the tools that Vivint provides to monitor children, those same cameras and systems are available for users to keep an eye on their pet while they are away.

Not only is Vivint taking care of loved ones in a user’s smart home, including pets, it is also looking to expand into other areas, like a sports arena. At the end of October, not only did the company rename the home stadium of the Utah Jazz, but its also has plans to provide an interactive “Vivint Smart Home Experience” on the arena concourse, providing an enhanced experience for all visitors to the new Vivint Smart Home Arena.

Anticipating client’s wants and needs

When asked how Vivint is future-proofing its business within the rapidly growing market and the increased level of competition, Jeremy Warren, Vivint’s chief technology officer, said, “We’re excited about the market opportunity — challenge to create great new solutions no one has created yet. It means we’ve got to really figure out what the customer wants and deliver it, and there’s an opportunity to deliver that, and no one has done it yet.”

Creating solutions that work with the home of today, not the home of the future

As much as some people would love to, we do not buy a new house every year, so it is important that smart home technology work with a house built this year or one that is a few decades old. Warren spoke about the necessity to remain relevant.

“It is important to make sure we’re relevant to consumer space — people have homes and don’t buy them every year,” he explained. “Many have been built 50 years ago. We’re always thinking in terms of the real world and real customer space — not designing for the future home of tomorrow, but the actual wiring they have, with the actual Wi-Fi performance, with the type of building materials, and how it impacts radio performance and device placement.”

Conforming to standards

Asked whether standards are required to provide a solid framework for the smart home market, Warren said that they are not key to the adoption of smart home technology.

“Before the iPhone, no one knew what a smartphone was or what it needed,” he said. “I think we are in a pre-iPhone version of the smart home where we are all figuring out what the smart home should be. It is not about looking at all the ‘gee whiz’ things it can do, but about making everyday tasks easier.”

Vivint is certainly making everyday tasks easier, and as it captures more of the smart home market, it is likely to anticipate more of what its clients want.

Image credit: Vivint, Vivint Smart Home Arena